Syrians in opposition-held north protest Assad’s return to Arab League

AZAZ, Syria — Hundreds of Syrians living in the opposition-held north have protested President Bashar al-Assad’s attendance at the Arab League summit in Saudi Arabia.

Syria had been expelled from the league more than a decade ago.

The AFP news agency reported that banners at a demonstration in the city of Azaz read: — Syria cannot be represented by the criminal Assad.

The Assad government had brutally put down protests in 2011, triggering more than a decade of civil war.

The protests also took place in other rebel-held cities, including Al-Bab and Afrin.

In the northwestern city of Idlib, controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, hundreds of people protested, some carrying placards reading “No normalization.”

Assad was attending his first Arab League summit since the bloc suspended Syria in late 2011 for its crackdown on peaceful protests.

“We call on the Arab peoples to put pressure on their governments to go back on the decision (to re-admit Syria) and for Bashar al-Assad to leave,” said Issam Khatib, a lawyer originally from the northern city of Aleppo told the news agency. 

The civil war has since killed more than 500,000 people and driven about half the population from their homes.

In a flurry of diplomatic activity, Saudi Arabia and Assad ally Iran have consolidated ties and reordered regional relations.

The detente with Damascus is seen as a major blow to the political and armed opposition in Syria, which received Arab support, especially in the early stages of the conflict.

Damascus now controls most of Syria, having retaken much of the lost ground with the support of its allies Iran and Russia.

The remaining areas in the north and northwest are controlled by opposition fighters backed by Turkey. More than four million people live in the region, at least half of whom have been displaced from other parts of the country.